Improvement in the manufacture of sugar



dinitcd gianteaatent dtiljlirr.

JUAN roar, or HAVANA, CUBA.

Letters Patent No. 108,514, dated October 18, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same To all whom it may concern My invention relates particularly to that method or process of manufacture of sugar from the juice of the cane in which carbonic acid is employed, as set forth, for instance, in Letters Patent granted to me on the 10th day of May, 1870, No. 102,969.

My present invention has for its main objects to prevent the formation of lime refuse, and the conseqncnt resistance to the action of the carbonic acid, and to avoid the loss, in the residuum, of the large uantity of sugar heretofore found to have been met with; and to these ends My invention consists in acidulatiug the juice of the cane before any alkaline substance is introduced into it, as will be hereinafter 'more fully described.

And my invention further consists in decanting the material, after carbonization and prior to the final clarification; evaporation, and concentration of. the juice, into separate vessels, as hereinafter explained, whereby the operation is facilitated, and the residuum of the decanted body may be treated with the requisite dispatch.

To enable those skilled in the art to understand and use my new process, I will proceed to moreminutel y explain the same, as I have successful] y practiced it.

Having heated the body of juice, in the usual manner, to aboutthe temperature of 7 5, I blow in the carbonic acid in sufilcicnt quantity, and so th at, when tested with lituous paper, the latter will be turned light red. I then add the proper quantity of slaked lime, (which shail have been previously calculated,) beiugvery careful to watch carefully these things, viz: that the blowing in of the gas be diminished in such manner as to insure the neutrality of the liquid at the conclusion of the operation that the slaked lime be introduced through a spout of two or three centimeters (about one or one and a'balf inches) in diameter;

and that a rapid motion be kept up to insurethc most speedy and effectual incorporation of the alkali with the juice.

I then raise the temperature of the body until the first indications of boiling appear, when the liquid should be decanted into separate vessels, and therein allowed to rest quietly for twenty-five or. thirty minutes, after which the juice may be perfectly clarified, evaporated, and concentrated, by means of troughs,

in the open air, or by filters orvacuum apparatus, un-

til sugar of lead is obtained.

It willbe seen that, by proceeding in the manner I have described, the formation of any lime refuse, and the consequent resistance to the action of the carbonic acid will be completely avoided; and it will be'found, also, that in myimproved process there will be no such loss of sugar in the residuum as frequently occurs in other modes of treatment of the juice.

Having explained my invention so that those skilled can comprehend and practice it,

.lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The improved process, consisting in the acidulationof the juice of the cane prior to the introduction of the alkaline substance, as and for the purpose set forth.

Witnesses MANUEL MoREJos, FRANZ GRENADOS. 

